beachdude
Elite Member
OK, I was hunting this tidal pool this afternoon and I got a pretty big scare...
I looking for the lost engagement ring that some chick told me about a few weeks ago. The bottom of the pool is mostly sand covering a layer of granite rock like you see outside the pool. That green stuff you see in the center of the pool is some seaweed that is floating bout an inch or so off the sand.
The pool was built in 1933 and is in the local town where most of the residents are millionaires who live in palatial seaside homes, and they often come down to this pool for a swim .
I figure I am the only person who has hunted it recently (or ever) with a metal detector, and I could hear all kinds of targets in my headphones. The problem is, that they are in chest deep water and once I pinpoint roughly where they are, I can't use my stainless steel long-handled scoop because of the granite under the sand which stops the scoop from scooping content.
So I have to duck under water and fan the sand away with my hand and then run the metal detector over the area, fan some more, scan the area again, all while hanging upside down holding my breath. It is really hard and slow work.
Anyway, I did eventually manage to recover a old coin that is heavily encrusted with sand and it's size and weight doesn't match anything currently in circulation. I will have to carefully clean it to see what it is:
I was walking along the sandy bottom on the way out of the pool, and suddenly my left foot got shoved right up toward the surface so hard it buckled my knee! It was like someone had pushed the bottom of my wading shoe really hard from underneath. I nearly lost my balance, and as I swiveled around (still in chest-deep water), trying to see what had happened, I saw a short-tailed stingray swimming away. The ray was I guess about 2 feet in diameter. I am really glad He didn't sting me, because their stings have been lethal and their stingers can even pierce kevlar diving booties - I was just wearing plastic shoes. Man was that thing ever strong!
I guess he got thrown into the pool by bug waves during a recent high tide and can't find his way back out to the sea.
I am not sure if I am going to go back and hunt that pool again....
Short-Tail Stingray:
Short-tail stingray - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia